Chapter 4

After a night of pain, I finally saw everything clearly.

I was just his mistress, whom he had kept secret for six years. I never even had a chance to be seen in public. How could I dare to dream of getting married?

After leaving the company, I hadn't seen either of them again.

I was busy until eleven that morning trying to finish Chloe's materials.

I opened my phone and received an update from Chloe.

The photo showed her in a wedding dress, holding Ethan's hand. They looked like a loving couple.

Caption: I've finally tied the knot with the person I love most.

I silently gave it a thumbs up and then exited the interface.

Back home, everything in the room Ethan and I had shared seemed increasingly jarring.

I opened my suitcase and packed everything that belonged to me.

At least now, there would be no trace of me left in this house.

Looking at the fully packed suitcase, I suddenly felt a sense of relief.

After six years together, in the end, all that was left was this.

I was leaving tomorrow, and Ethan was busy preparing for his wedding with Chloe, so naturally he didn't come back that night.

That's fine too.

On the day of the handover, I went to the company early.

My colleague grabbed my arm excitedly when he saw me.

"Sienna, guess what I saw in Mr. Wells' office just now?"

"It's a diamond ring, part of a matching set. They're moving pretty fast."

"Yeah, that's fast enough."

After all, I'd given him six years and still hadn't gotten anything.

I gave a brief, perfunctory reply and found the project contact person to sign off on the handover before I left.

As I was walking down the corridor, I ran into Ethan.

I tried to walk around him and pretend I didn't see him, but he suddenly pulled me into his arms.

"What, are you still throwing a tantrum at me?"

I struggled to push him away.

"Are you crazy? We're at work."

He shrugged: "So?"

"If someone sees us, I can just say you seduced me, and I won't lose anything."

I silently cursed him a thousand times in my heart. No wonder I was the only one my colleagues ever insulted.

Seeing that I didn't speak, he snatched the documents from my arms: "Be good and listen to me. You don't need to work so hard. Leave the promotion to me. What kind of project is this?"

He was about to casually open it when my heart tightened. Before I could say anything, his phone rang.

Judging from his nervous expression, it was obvious that it was Chloe calling.

After hanging up the phone, Ethan tossed the documents in his hand back into my arms.

His tone was softer than I had ever heard it.

"I need to go back to the old house tonight to take care of some things, so I won't be going home."

I took the document, thankful that he hadn't seen it was a resignation handover document. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to leave smoothly.

I turned my head away and suppressed the complicated emotions in my heart.

"If you don't come home, I'm not the one you need to report it to."

Ethan's face immediately darkened, and after a long silence, he finally spoke.

"You're right."

"I was going to give you this necklace, but it seems you don't deserve it. If you want it, pick it up yourself."

After saying that, he turned around and threw the necklace into the trash can.

Watching his retreating figure, I couldn't help but twitch the corners of my mouth.

This is the difference between a wife and a secret lover.

Chloe got a carefully chosen diamond ring, but I got only a necklace Ethan could casually throw into the trash.

After handing over my work, I threw everything of mine at the company into the trash can before leaving.

After leaving the company, I checked the bank card that Ethan had opened for me.

Over the years, he had transferred nearly five million to me in bits and pieces.

That money had come at the cost of six years of my youth.

I found the orphanage that had taken me in because my parents disliked me.

I donated every single penny of that money.

I breathed a sigh of relief, finally managing to rid myself of everything that tied me to him.

On the day I left, I took one last look at the city that had imprisoned me for half my life.

Finally, I no longer had to hide or care about what others thought.

They hadn't needed my approval before.

There would be even less need for it in the future.

Ethan didn't come home all night and didn't even notice the change in me.

I used to throw tantrums too, but he would coax me, and I would wisely give him a way out.

***

This time, he thought Sienna was just angry because of Chloe.

So he went back to his old family home and stayed away for two days.

Having finally secured the deputy director position for Sienna, he returned to the company with great anticipation.

The first thing he did was contact the company's HR department.

"Quickly call Sienna here."

"I made an exception and asked headquarters to give her the title of deputy director."